Payback would be a glitch in LeBron's South Beach career.
Except that didn't happen during a one-sided Knick loss, 113-91. Instead, James hit for his 30th triple-double and officially became one of those piercing thorns in the side at the Garden, a visiting tormentor on the scale of Reggie Miller or Michael Jordan.
It may be difficult to stomach such a plot twist, but there you go. The Heat, behind James' all-round brilliance, pulled rapidly away in the second half to extend a winning streak to 11 games and reestablish the Eastern Conference pecking order, which happens to be the wrong order.
Nobody ever said the guy stinks. LeBron was a blurry, undefendable burst of energy at the Garden, plus-31 on the night on 14-of-23 shooting. He spotted seams and vectors on the court invisible to more conventional talents. There was nothing LeBron couldn't, or didn't, do on the way to 32 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. By comparison, Stoudemire was 11-for-28 from the field, 2-of-7 from the foul line, with four turnovers against a team that packed the paint and cut off the pick-and-rolls.
"He was moving the ball, shooting the ball so well you didn't even think about the other stats," Chris Bosh said, about James. "He was controlling pace of the game, kicking it to the open guy, being the playmaker that he is."
James spun for 360-degree layups, he hit three three-pointers and threaded the needle with a behind-the-back assist. It was all very exhilarating, and of course also depressing to think this show won't be performed here 41 times per season.
"We had to play a 48-minute game to get the win," James said. "As a team, we try to wear teams down, use our athleticism. That's what we did."
LeBron wins this one, no argument. He silenced the place, made the Knicks understand what they are missing and just how far they are from Miami.
It's not that the Garden crowd didn't try. James was jeered coming out of the tunnel for warmups. He was jeered louder during pregame introductions, and then he was jeered some more whenever he touched the ball. There were posters and chants in abundance, none of them particularly amiable.
James handled this contempt as he does everything else, with a distant smile and practiced indifference. Then he buried an opening three-pointer and began the process of shutting up everybody on Eighth Ave. and beyond.
He's only 25, yet James has heard it all by now.
"Can't get no worse than December 2nd when we went to Cleveland," James said, before the Heat faced the Knicks in a jazzed-up, overheated Garden. "Boos are OK, I understand. I know how to adjust to it. If you're not on their team, you suck."
James had in the past couple of years spoken vaguely about making the Garden his home. He still can't refer to the place without using the word, "Mecca."
Then the moment arrived last summer to put his ink where his mouth was, and James nested with his buddies in Miami. James still says the Knicks did nothing wrong during their courtship. He bristled a bit Friday when asked whether he shied away from New York because of its inherent pressures.
"It's not a spotlight I can't handle," James said.
He had a taste of that glaring attention during the Heat's two-day stay here in the city, as his every move was chronicled by gossip columnists and sportswriters. Even before entering the Garden, James made nice via Twitter. "NYC! One of the best cities in the world. Gotta love it," he Tweeted. He was taken aback, in a good way, by the sight of a giant LeBron billboard for Nike outside the building.
"Just rode pass (sic) 7th and 34th Street on our way to shoot-around and saw this above the Foot Action. Nice!!"
No native New Yorker describes a city address by giving the avenue number before the street number, an indication James doesn't know what he's talking about.
Small victory. The only one to be had at the Garden.
credit : NYDAILYNEWS
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